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NFC technology based wallet from Samsung Pay expanding

The South Korean consumer electronics manufacturer is taking its mobile payments system into more countries.

Samsung Pay, the mobile payments system that uses NFC technology through the devices from the South Korean tech giant, will now be headed into a broader range of countries across the globe, expanding it well beyond its very limited initial release.

The mobile wallet will be available to consumers throughout a handful of additional countries worldwide.

In a recent tweet, Samsung expressed that while the NFC technology based mobile wallet is already available in the United States and South Korea, it will become available to millions of additional customers in the very near future. This is because it will be stepping into at least three new countries in the near future. The countries that have been identified, so far, include Australia, Singapore and Brazil. This will more than double the number of countries in which the service is available and will provide the company with a considerably larger opportunity to boost its user base.

Samsung followed up the expansion announcement of its NFC technology mobile wallet with more at CES 2016.

NFC Technology  - Mobile PaymentsAt the Consumer Electronics Show 2016, which was held last week in Las Vegas, Samsung also unveiled a new line of NFC enabled smartwatches which would be compatible with its Samsung Pay service. This means that people won’t be limited to smartphones when they want to use mobile devices to pay for their products and service at checkout counters across the new range of countries where it will be available.

The Gear S2 smartwatch will have the mobile technology needed to be able to be used for contactless payments at points of sale that have NFC readers. Upon the initial release of the wearable technology devices, the Samsung Pay service will still be available only in South Korea and the United States. However, as the expansion of the service occurs later in 2016, it is likely that these gadgets will be able to be used there, as well.

This represents a growing trend of wearable technology devices that are becoming compatible with mobile payments. The use of NFC technology in the Gear S2 could help to push forward the adoption of both mobile payments and wearables, simultaneously, if Samsung is as successful as it hopes to be.

Smartphones are leading the way in mobile commerce growth

Study highlights a paradigm shift in the mobile commerce space

A new study from Forrester Research, Shop.org, and Bizrate Insights shows that smartphones are beginning to become powerful mobile commerce tools. The study has found that consumers are beginning to change the way they browse for products online while using their mobile devices. This, alongside a shift in investments coming from technology companies and better optimization strategies from retailers, is beginning to have a major impact on the mobile commerce space as a whole.

Retailers are seeing more activity come from smartphones rather than tablets

The study found that, among retailers, smartphones accounted for approximately 17% of all online sales made in 2015. By comparison, tablets comprised 14% of online sales last year. Sales via smartphones grew by 53% over what they had been in 2014, with sales from tablets seeing a modest 32% growth in 2014. Retailers are beginning to optimize their mobile engagement strategies, which has lead to a higher number of smartphone users to participate in mobile commerce.

Technology companies are beginning to change the way they invest in the mobile sector

Smartphones - Mobile Commerce GrowthThe study also found that there is a shift occurring in the investments that technology companies are making in the mobile space. A growing number of these companies are beginning to focus more heavily on mobile commerce, hoping to take advantage of the rapidly growing market. Companies like Apple and Google are bringing their own mobile payments services to new markets and retailers are beginning to follow suit. Technology companies are seeing major promise in the continued growth of the mobile commerce market are investing to ensure its continued expansion.

Retailers begin to focus more heavily on smartphones

Tablets had been a very popular mobile shopper platform for consumers in the past. These devices feature larger screens, which allowed for a more enjoyable shopping experience. Smartphones are becoming more popular among consumers, however, as these devices tend to be more common and more convenient shopping experience. Organizations involved in the mobile commerce space may soon focus more heavily on smartphones than other mobile devices in order to effectively engage consumers.